Normally I don't do this sorta thing, but WTF?

[logomancer]

Vatican 'cashes in' by putting price on the Pope's copyright: "For the first time all papal documents, including encyclicals, will be governed by copyright invested in the official Vatican publishing house, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana...Publishers will have to negotiate a levy of between 3 per cent and 5 per cent of the cover price of any book or publication 'containing the Pope’s words'. Those who infringe the copyright face legal action and a higher levy of 15 per cent."

I'm not Catholic, but to me it makes the Pope look like a sellout and it's putting down a rather large iron fist on the media. Exactly how many times has a papal text leaked, anyhow? In any case, this is stupid.

Comments

[acid-rose.livejournal.com]

so now when we talk about the pope we have to add the little (c) symbol?

[wyrdone.livejournal.com]

I would manage this by saying. "Ok you can have your copyright, in turn any organization funded or affiliated with the Vatican Church is now no longer tax exempt."

That would fix things "Real Quick(tm)".

[flamingophoenix.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. I like your idea. Unfortunately, the people who write the tax code don't give a rat's ass about whether or not the Pope copyrights things.

Seriously, who will this affect? Who publishes encyclicals? The Vatican. And people who probably already donate anyway. I'm not so worried.